Talented Bob was ‘truly a man for all seasons’
‘HE WAS LIKE A GENIUS’ SAYS HEARTBROKEN WIDOW
THE widow of a well-known musician and radio presenter has paid tribute to her late husband who she says was “simply the best”.
Robert Rowe, known as Bob, worked on BBC Radio Nottingham for more than 15 years, covering sport and music. He died on Monday, January 25, at the age of 74 having been diagnosed with liver cancer.
“Devastated and heartbroken” wife Melanie, 70, said: “As far as I am concerned he was simply the best husband.”
Bob was diagnosed with hepatocellular cancer on January 12. After he fell down the stairs last year, fracturing a number of bones, doctors detected a tumour in his right arm and found it to be secondary cancer.
After a biopsy in December, they found the primary liver cancer.
“By the time they discovered it, it was too late for him to have chemotherapy,” said Mrs Rowe, a retired civil servant of Fleming Drive, Carlton.
She added: “He was like a genius. As an individual he was multi-talented. He was a musician, he recorded and produced several records.
“He was actually in an Elvis Presley film. It was 1970 – a film called That’s The Way It Is.
“He played many instruments. It started off with the piano. His first love was the guitar – but he played the bass also, and drums.
“He had a home recording studio, where he produced a CD, his own CD, and material for Youtube. He was in bands at the beginning and at the end of his life.”
Mrs Rowe, who married Robert in 1981, said: “He worked for about 15 years in the days of Dennis Mccarthy. Dennis was actually the best man at our wedding.”
Mr Rowe also worked at BBC Radio Derby and was also a professional photographer.
“He started off doing wedding photography very early on. Then he became president of the Nottingham and Notts Photographic Society.
“He also wrote a lot of articles for Nottinghamshire Today, the Evening Post’s glossy magazine, to promote local photographers. He also shot covers for the magazine.”
Mr Rowe won the Fenton Medal by the Royal Photographic Society for his services to digital photography.
Hank Marvin – legendary lead guitarist for The Shadows – used one of his photos for the cover of a “best of” CD.
Mr Rowe’s former BBC colleagues also paid tribute. John Holmes MBE, 74, a presenter and journalist for 50 years, said: “He was truly a man for all seasons. I was already aware of his success as a guitarist in local bands but he came to join us to work behind the scenes at the station.
“He was a good technician and he soon established himself working on our sports output, even taking on the presenter role for our evening matches.”
Former sports editor and anchorman Mick Wormald said: “He was exactly what you want as a live sports output teammate: a real pro, giving his total focus on the job in hand and 100 percent reliable week in, week out.”
Former BBC Radio Nottingham manager Arnold Miller added: “This is sad news, as thinking of Bob always brings a smile.
“We worked closely together in those early days and it formed a bond between us for the rest of his life.
“When former senior staff members – Tom Beesley and John Hobson – left to form their own production company, Tom Beesley Associates, they asked Bob to join them as producer and cameraman, and I was used as a presenter on many of their industrial videos.
“His eye for a good picture led him to become an important person in the world of photography and the last time we worked professionally together was back at Radio Nottingham, when he had a regular weekly feature offering advice on how to take the perfect picture.”